Swazilink

Swazilink is a planned railway in South Africa and Eswatini.^[1][2]

The main railway would run 146 km from Lothair in Mpumalanga in South Africa to Sidvokodvo Junction in Eswatini.^[3] This would reduce the pressure on the Richards Bay line, removing general freight traffic, hence allowing more coal export trains and reducing the volume of coal transported by road.^[4] There are also plans for 600 km of connecting railways, and this route fits with several other Transnet infrastructure projects which concentrate on coal transport.^[5] This would also allow further development of the railway which takes coal from the Waterberg Coalfield via Ermelo to Richards Bay; the Waterberg coalfields have South Africa's biggest undeveloped coal reserves.^[6]

The project officially began in January 2012 and was initially expected to cost between R15bn and R17bn, with the South African government paying up to R12bn.^[3] The Swazi government suggested that PPP would be used, or another source of external funding. The Lothair - Sidvokodvo line itself was forecast to cost R7.3 billion, and another R8.6 billion would be spent on connecting railways. The first trains were expected to start running in 2015^[3] or 2016.^[4]

In July 2014, Swazi Railways estimated that the link would cost R17 billion and could enter service in 2017.^[7]

Transnet is acquiring General Electric locomotives for the line.